Parking Garage Panic
by csijenniferlynn
Summary: Being attacked and kidnapped from a parking garage by the Miniature Killer has left Sara with what she feels is an irrational fear of parking garages.  This one-shot depicts the internal struggle she has with herself on her first day back at work.


Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from the CSI franchise.

Notes: This idea popped into my head as I was working on a chapter of A Different Kind of Family. I was struggling with chapter 4 of said story, so decided to take a break to write this little one-shot instead. This story deals with a small fragment of Sara's first official day back at the lab after being kidnapped by Natalie Davis, the Miniature Killer. I have a terrible fear of parking garages and I imagine Sara wouldn't have been thrilled to be in one all alone after being stunned by Natalie in one. This isn't exemplary fanfiction, but I figured it wasn't so bad that I needed to delete it. Who knows, you might actually like it. Review if you do. Thanks!

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_I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. _Sara's breathing was quick and shallow as she pulled into her parking garage space at the LVPD's crime lab. After parking her Prius, she pulled the key out of the ignition and clasped it tightly in her sweaty hand so that the head of the key was flat against her palm and the shaft of the key was poking out between the second and third fingers of her tightly closed fist, ready to be used as a weapon should she be attacked. She immediately hated herself for feeling a need for self-defense. _I am going to be fine. No one is going to hurt me. I can do this. I can do this. _

Sara succeeded in willing herself to drop the key into her purse. She hadn't yet succeeded in willing herself out of the car.

She had been back to the lab already, several times at that, but she hadn't yet come alone. Grissom had driven with her the time she'd come to give her statement and the couple times she came to visit with the team. He had insisted on driving her to work today. She had insisted he shouldn't. She had to be at work a full 9 hours earlier than he did now that she had been moved to swing shift, and besides, she needed to do this. She needed to regain her independence. Grissom had argued her point, saying that he didn't mind, but Sara had minded him wasting his time chauffeuring her around town when he should be sleeping. He had said he had documents to prepare for a court date, but Sara had pulled them out of his briefcase and called his bluff, knowing he had only been trying to make up an excuse to need to be at the lab for her sake. He had even gone as far as saying that everyone would expect him to bring her to work after knowing now that they lived together and knowing what hell she'd been through in the past few weeks, but Sara had argued that even husbands didn't typically act as taxi drivers. Grissom had given up.

And here she sat. All alone. At least there was daylight illuminating the garage.

_Just get out of the damn car, Sidle. What the heck is wrong with you? _Sara's eyes were closed and her breathing was heavy. She grabbed her cell phone. _I'll just call Greg and tell him I need him to carry some crap in for me. Shit, he's not here. Why did Ecklie have to split us up? If I could still be on grave, Gil could have driven me and it wouldn't have made me pathetic and ridiculous. Afraid of a parking garage. God, I'm pitiful. _She dropped the phone back into her purse, defeated. Ecklie was probably inside, but the day she called Ecklie to escort her into the lab because she was too damn wimpy to walk by herself would be the day hell froze over.

_Oh for God's sake. Just get out of the car. _Sara's eyes were closed. She was steeling herself to make a beeline for the safety of the lab. There were only 11 cars, a two way driving lane, a curb, and a square of sidewalk between her and the door (not that she'd counted the cars or anything quite as sad as that).

Sara secured her purse on her shoulder, gripped the handle of her field kit firmly in her right hand, and grasped the door handle with her left. _I can do this. I can do this. I'm fine. No one is going to hurt me. _She took one last deep breath, flung the car door open, hit the lock button inside the door, slammed the door shut, turned around to "walk" as quickly as she could to the door, and ran smack into Warrick. She nearly fell over, whether from the force of her body crashing into his or from the near heart-attack she suffered as she flew into fight or flight mode thinking she was being attacked again, she'd never know, but Warrick, though half-asleep after pulling a triple, kept Sara on her feet.

"Hey, girl, it's your big first day on swing, right? You in a hurry?" Warrick made sure Sara was firmly on her feet, then let her go and rubbed his tired, bloodshot eyes. He was stifling a massive yawn as Sara answered, "Sorry, Warrick. Uh, yeah, this is my first day back to work. Hooray for swing." She feebly attempted a joke as she tried to calm her panicked heart back to a normal rhythm. "At least Ecklie didn't assign me to days. I'd kill him after working alongside him all day, and then I'm pretty sure I'd be out of a job." She smiled feebly. "Did you just pull a triple?"

"Yeah. Major case. High roller at the Palermo dropped dead right at the black jack table. Media's all over it, so you know, Ecklie's all over us. Catherine couldn't stay cuz Lindsey has something at school today and it was just the two of us working the case, so you know, I had to stay. No big deal." Warrick yawned again.

"You get some sleep, okay. And Warrick… thanks." Sara hesitated in thanking Warrick. She didn't really want to know that once she realized the person she ran into was him and not an attacker, she had felt safe. _God, it's good to feel safe. _It felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. Her grip on her field kit had slackened; she had relaxed.

"For what?"

"It was just good to run into you."

"You know what? I think you might be the one who needs sleep here. You okay girl?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"All right then. Hang in there. Just so you know, I'm gonna be all sorts of pissed when swing starts having a better close rate than grave because of you." Warrick was grinning as he teased Sara. He knew she'd pick up the underlying message that grave shift, that he, would be missing her.

Sara smiled back, began to walk backward toward her destination, and waved cheerfully back at Warrick, who was making his way toward his car. "See ya, Warrick!"

"Later."

She was at the door. One simple push and she was inside. She had made it. Nine hours of safety ahead, and then Gil would be showing up for his shift and could walk her back to her car at the end of hers. And then tomorrow she'd have to do this all over again. But for now, she had made it. She was going to keep making it. She was going to show Natalie that she couldn't leave her damaged and afraid forever. She was strong.


End file.
